Capitol Notebook: Hats off to Obama

Hats off to Barack Obama. He may rarely be around Springfield anymore, but the Democratic presidential candidate has plenty of sway at the Statehouse.

State Capitol Bureau

Play of the Week

Hats off to Barack Obama. He may rarely be around Springfield anymore, but the Democratic presidential candidate has plenty of sway at the Statehouse.

Lawmakers appeared to be at loggerheads over a major ethics reform bill. The House had approved a ban on political donations by large-dollar state contractors, but the Senate wasn’t budging on not coming back right away to deal with the measure.

Then Obama made a phone call to his mentor, Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago.

Voila! Jones calls the Senate back to approve the ethics bill, along with Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s broader ethics package. While they’re at it, senators approved a $220 million package to restore or prevent budget cuts that also had been in limbo.

Leave it to dysfunctional state government to generate controversy in even the most mundane tasks.

Voters will be asked this fall if they want a constitutional convention to meet and revise the state constitution. It's a question that gets asked just once every 20 years, so it needs to be phrased properly.

That's what Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and state Rep. Mike Boland said last week when they criticized as "biased and unfair" the proposed wording of the ballot question.

The problem? The question talks about the outcome of the last such referendum in 1988. Voters then rejected calling the constitutional convention, 75 percent against it and 25 percent for it. Quinn and Boland say that point is irrelevant.

Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office provides election officials with the “con-con” ballot question, says he’s taken the question wording directly from lawmakers and would change it if they gave him new language.

Maybe it'd be like asking baseball fans whether the Chicago Cubs should be allowed to advance to the World Series, given 100 years of losing that has kept them out of the "Fall Classic" since 1908.

Or just imagine what could be inserted the next time Blagojevich or other unpopular politicians are on the ballot.

Quote of the Week

“This is a problem looking for a solution.”

_State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, who apparently misspoke during Senate debate Tuesday on Blagojevich’s broader ethics reforms. Jacobs was trying to criticize the need for the reforms, which then passed the Senate.

Number to Know

26 and counting – the number of special sessions Blagojevich has called over the past two years, after he called specials on ethics and autism insurance coverage last week.

Coming Up

Wednesday, Oct. 1, is when new delivery rates take effect for the Ameren Illinois utility companies. The Illinois Commerce Commission last week approved a $162 million rate hike that will affect most of the utilities' customers. Ameren said it needed the higher rates to pay for infrastructure improvements to ensure the reliable delivery of electricity and natural gas.